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Ernst Grip #2
Der Vermittler
Der schwedische Geheimagent Ernst Grip soll in Dschibuti im Mordfall an einem dort stationierten schwedischen Soldaten ermitteln. Zur gleichen Zeit wird eine Familie, die sich auf Weltumsegelung befindet, von Piraten entführt, die schier unerfüllbare Lösegeldforderungen stellen. Dank eines von der schwedischen Regierung gesandten Vermittlers begreift Grip, dass beide Fälle zusammenhängen, doch als er beginnt, Nachforschungen anzustellen, gerät er selbst in Lebensgefahr…
529 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2016
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692 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
September 19, 2018
Ah we got a second Grip. Once again Karjel takes his Grip and us to a place not currently in the spotlight. I think he loves shining light into these shadowy places. This time it is to the shadows that hide under the blazing sun of the Indian Ocean. Straight into the fray with the pirates, stolen families, stolen boys and the people caught in between. Because there are always people caught in between the teeth of the sharks that roam around us.
Although this book can easily be read as a standalone, I find that I love seeing where Grip is over the years. Here he is struggling with sadness and loneliness. In the first book his favourite painting by Edward hopper was this one:
a painting of a porch in the sunlight, with white cool colours. Now his favourite is this one:
Karjel uses these pictures to emphasis Grip's state of mind and soul. Now he is struggling in the shadows and his favourite is a charcoal study called Night Shadows, showing a man alone walking in the middle of a street of shadow and light with the readers looking from above. The thing is that Karjel is able to have us hovering above but also become part of the story, eager to see if our theories are right or not, feeling sad and happy as the story unfolds.
Well I for one am a reader that will return to Grip anytime Karjel cares to write about him.
A great read with my friend Lena.
Although this book can easily be read as a standalone, I find that I love seeing where Grip is over the years. Here he is struggling with sadness and loneliness. In the first book his favourite painting by Edward hopper was this one:
7am - Edward Hopper
a painting of a porch in the sunlight, with white cool colours. Now his favourite is this one:
Night Shadows - Edward Hopper
Karjel uses these pictures to emphasis Grip's state of mind and soul. Now he is struggling in the shadows and his favourite is a charcoal study called Night Shadows, showing a man alone walking in the middle of a street of shadow and light with the readers looking from above. The thing is that Karjel is able to have us hovering above but also become part of the story, eager to see if our theories are right or not, feeling sad and happy as the story unfolds.
Well I for one am a reader that will return to Grip anytime Karjel cares to write about him.
A great read with my friend Lena.
September 19, 2018
AGAIN, Robert Karjel takes a political-military-spy thriller to a whole new level. If you'll find another author who writes at least approximately in the same manner, please let me know IMMEDIATELY! I need more of Ernst Grip, I need more of Robert Karjel's intelligent intriguing twisting plot and I need more of his complex multilayered characters.
I knew AGAIN at 50% ALREADY that this book would be a winner for me. If I could, I would give it more than 5 stars. If you ask me which book I love more, I have to be honest and admit that I don't know. I actually reject to compare The Swede with After the Monsoon. You can read any of these books as a stand alone, but I highly recommend you to read them in the chronological order. The story told in the first book doesn't have anything to do with After the Monsoon, but you simply need to get to know Ernst Grip, an agent of the Swedish security police, better and closer. And believe me, it is sooooo worth it.
Like in The Swede there are more than one story-line here: a Swedish family that has been kidnapped by pirates from their luxury yacht while sailing around the world and a death of a Swedish soldier, a member of a Swedish anti-piracy mission, during the shooting range in the desert. It seems that the only connection between these two cases is the coast of Somalia.
The shooting case seems to be a clear matter- a tragic accident, not more not less. Ernst Grip arrives in Djibouti for his investigation that has to be of a purely formal character. For every other police officer it COULD be, but not for Grip.
The truth starts unfolding, layer after layer; the deeper Grip dips into this complicated case, the more unanswered questions appear, the more mystery the whole investigation becomes, the more darker secrets are revealed, the more lives endanger.
I. COULDN'T. PUT. THIS.BOOK.DOWN. Not for a second.
What a ride, what a fantastic read. I'm EXTREMELY sad now because it is over.
I can't have enough of Ernst Grip. What a provoking, unforgettable, compelling character!
Don't wait, go and get the first book! Read it!
This part concerns only those readers who decide between two editions:
I purchased a German edition first. My thoughts were: It is a translation from Swedish anyway, it doesn't matter. It did. Believe me. I have to switch to an English edition after some pages. If you can't read it in an original language, please, choose the English translation. Nancy Pick did such a great job. You won't notice it you won't compare. I did. Judge it by yourself. Just as an example (there are many of them):
in German:
"Es war nur ein weiteres der viel zu vielen nichtssagenden Bilder, mit denen er gefüttert wurde."
in English:
"Only that he was being fed too many simple truths."
Robert Karjel makes me proud to be European. Bless him for that.
March 3, 2020
As a lieutenant colonel and helicopter pilot in the Swedish airforce for 25 years, Robert Karjel brings a depth of authenticity that is present in his writing. “After the monsoon” is the second of the Ernst Grip books and takes us to the volatile and lawless Horn of Africa. Set primarily in the tiny yet strategically poised nation of Djibouti, Karjel unravels a paradoxical tale where good is wrapped up in bad which is wrapped up in good. Binaries are blurred and Grip is gripping as the protagonist who not only exists in a blurred binary but navigates double dealings with outcomes that do not end with a happily ever after.
October 24, 2021
A harrowing and intelligent thriller set in Djibouti, Somalia, and Kenya, well written and well translated, sometimes tonally similar to Henning Mankell and le Carré, with a bisexual Swedish police officer protagonist. 3.8 stars rounded down to 3 because I wanted it to be a bit tighter (50 pages shorter), and because Karjel's crisp, competent narrative suddenly skids to a halt, twice, with what the kids today call "infodumps," to explain the backstories of two characters. This is the second in a series and I plan to read the first one.
August 7, 2018
Below is my review of this book that appeared in the New York Times Book Review . . .
By Chris Pavone
July 19, 2018
Peter Hoeg’s 1992 publishing sensation, “Smilla’s Sense of Snow,” was America’s gateway drug to a long-term dependency on Nordic noir, suspense novels in which the placid progressive surface — health care, tolerance, bicycles — is routinely shattered by neo-Nazis, rapists, neo-Nazi rapists. Just maybe, despite our more than 30,000 annual gun deaths and mass incarceration and unconscionable poverty, those Scandinavians aren’t any more civilized than we are.
Every subgenre has its conventions, and Scandi-crime’s have become commonplace to readers (and moviegoers): bleak landscapes and brooding protagonists, sexual violence and abounding umlauts. So it’s refreshing to find the action in Robert Karjel’s “After the Monsoon” set in a place that is the opposite of Sweden: Djibouti, a “little thumbnail of land” where the Horn of Africa meets the Gulf of Aden, and two plotlines converge.
One is the kidnapping of the Bergenskjold family off the luxury sailboat where they had decamped from their private-equity lifestyle in Stockholm — dinner parties at which Carl-Adam “rambled on with a colleague about grand cru wines … while Jenny stood in the kitchen, cleaning up, talking with some wife about the usual drivel” at a kitchen sink “made from a single piece of Italian marble, transported across Europe as the only cargo on a flatbed truck.”
Karjel has a gift for the telling detail that reveals a broader story. His author biography boasts that “he is the only Swedish pilot who has trained with the U.S. Marine Corps,” and it’s to be expected that this man’s novel would feature a military component. Sure enough, the second plotline does: Ernst Grip of Sapo, Sweden’s security police, investigates an army mishap at a Djibouti shooting range. But instead of the usual bromides about honor and duty and warriors and weaponry, Karjel writes: “When the first shot rang out, people cheered … and a little cloud rose up like an exclamation point before falling again.”
Does this sound a bit like mischievous mockery? And this sharply rendered SWAT team: “Someone had suggested they could just pick the lock — but no, they wanted shock and awe. … Arms out, they clenched their gloved hands into fists, like overtrained athletes winding up to throw something extremely heavy as far as possible.” Grip’s boss advises: “The military — don’t ever surrender to their smugness.”
Every corner of this rich, rewarding novel features one or another subversion of stereotypes — the Somali-Ukrainian lounge pianist who’s a superb spy, the bookish tween girl who’s braver than her alpha-male father — chief among which is that the main character is gay. But there’s even a wrinkle to that twist: It turns out that Grip is actually bisexual, creating some interesting dynamics.
All this confounding of expectations is admirable, but that doesn’t necessarily equal enjoyable; in some authors’ hands, subversion can be buffoonery, and admirable can be didactic and tedious. Karjel’s characters, however, are nuanced, their relationships complex and the background texture evocative; his subversions are of a delicious flavor.
The plot? Not this novel’s particular strength. Although the setups are plausible and gripping, characters make too many credulity-straining choices that are explicable only in the contrived service of heightening drama, and the strands begin to fray as resolution approaches — a dizzying confluence of C.I.A. drone strikes, Swedish special forces, khat-stoned kidnappers and an underground railroad that exfiltrates jihadists. And in a novel replete with unusual characters and thought-provoking themes, there’s paradoxically not much in the way of plot twists. Still, Karjel offers ample pleasures along the way. “They’d done what they could — wasn’t that true? — based on the intelligence they had — wasn’t that true!”
By Chris Pavone
July 19, 2018
Peter Hoeg’s 1992 publishing sensation, “Smilla’s Sense of Snow,” was America’s gateway drug to a long-term dependency on Nordic noir, suspense novels in which the placid progressive surface — health care, tolerance, bicycles — is routinely shattered by neo-Nazis, rapists, neo-Nazi rapists. Just maybe, despite our more than 30,000 annual gun deaths and mass incarceration and unconscionable poverty, those Scandinavians aren’t any more civilized than we are.
Every subgenre has its conventions, and Scandi-crime’s have become commonplace to readers (and moviegoers): bleak landscapes and brooding protagonists, sexual violence and abounding umlauts. So it’s refreshing to find the action in Robert Karjel’s “After the Monsoon” set in a place that is the opposite of Sweden: Djibouti, a “little thumbnail of land” where the Horn of Africa meets the Gulf of Aden, and two plotlines converge.
One is the kidnapping of the Bergenskjold family off the luxury sailboat where they had decamped from their private-equity lifestyle in Stockholm — dinner parties at which Carl-Adam “rambled on with a colleague about grand cru wines … while Jenny stood in the kitchen, cleaning up, talking with some wife about the usual drivel” at a kitchen sink “made from a single piece of Italian marble, transported across Europe as the only cargo on a flatbed truck.”
Karjel has a gift for the telling detail that reveals a broader story. His author biography boasts that “he is the only Swedish pilot who has trained with the U.S. Marine Corps,” and it’s to be expected that this man’s novel would feature a military component. Sure enough, the second plotline does: Ernst Grip of Sapo, Sweden’s security police, investigates an army mishap at a Djibouti shooting range. But instead of the usual bromides about honor and duty and warriors and weaponry, Karjel writes: “When the first shot rang out, people cheered … and a little cloud rose up like an exclamation point before falling again.”
Does this sound a bit like mischievous mockery? And this sharply rendered SWAT team: “Someone had suggested they could just pick the lock — but no, they wanted shock and awe. … Arms out, they clenched their gloved hands into fists, like overtrained athletes winding up to throw something extremely heavy as far as possible.” Grip’s boss advises: “The military — don’t ever surrender to their smugness.”
Every corner of this rich, rewarding novel features one or another subversion of stereotypes — the Somali-Ukrainian lounge pianist who’s a superb spy, the bookish tween girl who’s braver than her alpha-male father — chief among which is that the main character is gay. But there’s even a wrinkle to that twist: It turns out that Grip is actually bisexual, creating some interesting dynamics.
All this confounding of expectations is admirable, but that doesn’t necessarily equal enjoyable; in some authors’ hands, subversion can be buffoonery, and admirable can be didactic and tedious. Karjel’s characters, however, are nuanced, their relationships complex and the background texture evocative; his subversions are of a delicious flavor.
The plot? Not this novel’s particular strength. Although the setups are plausible and gripping, characters make too many credulity-straining choices that are explicable only in the contrived service of heightening drama, and the strands begin to fray as resolution approaches — a dizzying confluence of C.I.A. drone strikes, Swedish special forces, khat-stoned kidnappers and an underground railroad that exfiltrates jihadists. And in a novel replete with unusual characters and thought-provoking themes, there’s paradoxically not much in the way of plot twists. Still, Karjel offers ample pleasures along the way. “They’d done what they could — wasn’t that true? — based on the intelligence they had — wasn’t that true!”
May 18, 2017
Ernst Grip is sent to Djibouti to investigate the death of a Swedish soldier noone there seems overly keen for him to look into. Meanwhile, a Swedish family sailing around the world has been kidnapped by pirates demanding an outrageous sum of money for their release. As Grip slowly pieces together the circumstances that led to the soldier's death, he stumbles upon evidence that both cases could be related.
After reading the brilliant first book featuring Ernst Grip, The Swede, I was thrilled to find that while the sequel unfortunately isn't available in English (yet?), the German translation was just released, allowing me to continue the series without delay. With a suspenseful, tightly woven plot and intriguing twists that just keep on coming, this was another gripping read from start to finish, although I didn't love it quite as much as the first one. Nevertheless, I sure hope there'll be more to come from this series in future!
After reading the brilliant first book featuring Ernst Grip, The Swede, I was thrilled to find that while the sequel unfortunately isn't available in English (yet?), the German translation was just released, allowing me to continue the series without delay. With a suspenseful, tightly woven plot and intriguing twists that just keep on coming, this was another gripping read from start to finish, although I didn't love it quite as much as the first one. Nevertheless, I sure hope there'll be more to come from this series in future!
August 20, 2018
I can't compare this book to anything I've read, because I really don't think there is another book quite like it. I think the author brings a realism to the military action that goes far beyond most military thrillers, and perhaps an international perspective sorely needed in English-language thrillers. The Djibouti setting is wonderful. The characters are compelling. The writing is very different, slightly out of focus and elusive in ways I have trouble pinning down, much as does the main character. Truly gripping!
October 17, 2018
Beautiful setting: the horn of Africa (both in its extreme poverty and ludicrous luxury hotels and secluded islands)
A compelling plot, with with a somber Swedish detective and shady modern pirates. The kidnapping parts were quite unsettling
Minor complaint:
Great read
A compelling plot, with with a somber Swedish detective and shady modern pirates. The kidnapping parts were quite unsettling
Minor complaint:
Great read
August 20, 2018
The setting—Djibouti—is interesting, if depressing. The main character, Grip, was introduced in Karjel's first book ("The Swede"). Grip works for a branch of the Swedish military that provides bodyguards and investigates dicey murders. He is gloomy, but he has his reasons. His task is to investigate the death of a Swedish naval lieutenant by a local on a firing range. The Swedish sailors present are all very coy about the death, their captain is thick as a brick, and the death is connected to everything from a smuggling ring to the kidnapping of a Swedish family by Somali pirates. No one in the Swedish government seems to be in a hurry to resolve any of the matters, so Grip is largely on his own hook except for whatever deals he can wrangle with the CIA, the local UN presence, his boss, and a Russian cocktail pianist. How he manages to set some things almost right makes for an interesting book, but it takes a long time.
November 10, 2019
Another great book by Karjel - not as captivating as his first (The Swede), but definitely a must read for those who enjoy an intelligent thriller.
July 11, 2018
Set in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, a novel dealing with Somali pirates, a kidnapped family of four from the open seas, a murder of a Swedish lieutenant on Djibouti, and the fight against terrorism. Quite eye-opening and suspenseful.
May 22, 2022
Had to push myself to get through this, tempted to DNF many times. Whatever I saw in book 1 seemed absent here. I was bored. It somehow managed to be eventful, yet also dull. And grim. The crimes Grip investigates, along with his own grief, permeate this book with a heavy sadness and gloom. Did not enjoy.
November 5, 2018
I enjoyed reading After the Monsoon. I thought it was fresh and unique, particularly as it's a Swedish novel with a Swedish protagonist in Africa (American protagonists have become stereotypical in so many thrillers). Strong characters, interesting plot, consistent pacing.
September 14, 2024
Omläsning men kom inte ihåg den.
Ovanlig plats för handlingen vilket är ett plus, dubbelintrigen likaså. Klart läsvärd!
Ovanlig plats för handlingen vilket är ett plus, dubbelintrigen likaså. Klart läsvärd!
August 12, 2018
The juxtaposition of extremes always has the potential to infuse a narrative with an extra jolt of energy. And, in Robert Karjel's After the Monsoon, mixing calm, logical, and morally enlightened Swedish investigators and peacekeepers with the exotic, khat-fueled and morally bankrupt craziness of the Horn of Africa certainly conjures up some amazing sparks. Pirates, Swedish Military, geopolitical shenanigans, scandal, murder, sexual-preference politics, and just the right dose of action make this an exceptional and delightfully twisty thriller.
October 24, 2016
Robert Karjel: Efter monsunen
ISBN: 9789198182057, Förlag: Partners in Stories 2016
Under en otillåten skjutövning anordnad av MovCon-enheten dödas en svensk löjtnant av ett skott. Från Sverige skickas en SÄPO-agent, Ernst Grip, för att utreda fallet. En somalier är redan fängslad och alla verkar bara vilja ha en officiell bekräftelse för att fallet skall kunna läggas åt sidan. Vittnesmålen är väl tillrättalagda och Grip fattar ovälkomna misstankar. Han påbörjar en egen utredning som leder honom för nära ett nätverk som utnyttjar den svenska armén för illegala pengatransporter.
Samtidigt har en svensk barnfamilj kidnappats av pirater i Adenviken. Den generella inställningen att aldrig ge efter i gisslansituationer försätter familjen i än större livsfara och Ernst Grip, som redan befinner sig i området, kopplas in.
Före avresan till Djibouti hade Ernst Grip deltagit i en räd mot misstänkta terrorister i en Stockholmsförort. Inga terrorister påträffades dock och spåren verkade sluta där.
Dessa tre trådar flätar Robert Karjel elegant samman till en spännande intrig. I gränsområdet mellan Somalien, Etiopien och Eritrea där samtidigt Adenviken och Röda havet möts precis utanför Jemen blir Djibouti den brännpunkt där denna thriller utspelar sig. Han låter på ett mästerligt sätt Grip använda sin intelligens och förmåga att med eftertanke iaktta personer och se samband snarare än att använda knytnävarna. Även om Grip tänjer på ett antal gränser i Efter monsunen är det ingen tvekan om att han vill att sanningen och rättvisa skall segra.
Robert Karjel har en bakgrund som gör att han trovärdigt och med säker hand kan teckna ett drama som detta. Därtill berättar han med djup insikt och en klarsyn som jag, som rättspsykiater, kan uppskatta. Med gedigen berättarkonst och utan tröttsamma transportsträckor lockar han läsaren så lätt och ledigt genom handlingen att varje mening verkar självklar. Han har därtill en stil och ett språk som griper tag och får mig att smälta och gör läsningen till en ljuvligt fängslande upplevelse trots det sorgset tragiska temat.
Efter monsunen är Robert Karjels femte bok, men den första jag kom att läsa. Det blir inte den sista, den här läsupplevelsen vill jag inte vara utan – jag har redan beställt samtliga hans andra böcker!
Robert Karjel är civilingenjör i teknisk fysik samt även helikopterpilot och överstelöjtnant i svenska flygvapnet. Han är den ende svenske pilot som även utbildats vid amerikanska marinkåren och flugit deras attackhelikoptrar.
Christina Gustavson, forskare, rättspsykiater, författare
ISBN: 9789198182057, Förlag: Partners in Stories 2016
Under en otillåten skjutövning anordnad av MovCon-enheten dödas en svensk löjtnant av ett skott. Från Sverige skickas en SÄPO-agent, Ernst Grip, för att utreda fallet. En somalier är redan fängslad och alla verkar bara vilja ha en officiell bekräftelse för att fallet skall kunna läggas åt sidan. Vittnesmålen är väl tillrättalagda och Grip fattar ovälkomna misstankar. Han påbörjar en egen utredning som leder honom för nära ett nätverk som utnyttjar den svenska armén för illegala pengatransporter.
Samtidigt har en svensk barnfamilj kidnappats av pirater i Adenviken. Den generella inställningen att aldrig ge efter i gisslansituationer försätter familjen i än större livsfara och Ernst Grip, som redan befinner sig i området, kopplas in.
Före avresan till Djibouti hade Ernst Grip deltagit i en räd mot misstänkta terrorister i en Stockholmsförort. Inga terrorister påträffades dock och spåren verkade sluta där.
Dessa tre trådar flätar Robert Karjel elegant samman till en spännande intrig. I gränsområdet mellan Somalien, Etiopien och Eritrea där samtidigt Adenviken och Röda havet möts precis utanför Jemen blir Djibouti den brännpunkt där denna thriller utspelar sig. Han låter på ett mästerligt sätt Grip använda sin intelligens och förmåga att med eftertanke iaktta personer och se samband snarare än att använda knytnävarna. Även om Grip tänjer på ett antal gränser i Efter monsunen är det ingen tvekan om att han vill att sanningen och rättvisa skall segra.
Robert Karjel har en bakgrund som gör att han trovärdigt och med säker hand kan teckna ett drama som detta. Därtill berättar han med djup insikt och en klarsyn som jag, som rättspsykiater, kan uppskatta. Med gedigen berättarkonst och utan tröttsamma transportsträckor lockar han läsaren så lätt och ledigt genom handlingen att varje mening verkar självklar. Han har därtill en stil och ett språk som griper tag och får mig att smälta och gör läsningen till en ljuvligt fängslande upplevelse trots det sorgset tragiska temat.
Efter monsunen är Robert Karjels femte bok, men den första jag kom att läsa. Det blir inte den sista, den här läsupplevelsen vill jag inte vara utan – jag har redan beställt samtliga hans andra böcker!
Robert Karjel är civilingenjör i teknisk fysik samt även helikopterpilot och överstelöjtnant i svenska flygvapnet. Han är den ende svenske pilot som även utbildats vid amerikanska marinkåren och flugit deras attackhelikoptrar.
Christina Gustavson, forskare, rättspsykiater, författare
May 21, 2020
This is the third novel I've read recently that opens with innocent white people being threatened by dark skinned bad guys. In this case, Somali pirates. As usual in the liberal world of publishing, a white writer passes the racism test by including one or two good people of color. This book is a cross between "The Wire" and "The Year of Living Dangerously." Like the majority-Black Baltimore in "The Wire," Djibouti is stereotyped as a hell hole of poverty and corruption held together by a corrupt government and a corrupt police force.
The protagonist, Grip, is only there for the duration of the novel. It's his year of living dangerously in what used to be called "The Third World." Now it's "the developing world." Everyone in the novel (who can) is desperate to get out of Djibouti and flee to European civilization. Grip's fantasy of owning a drawing by Hopper is a metaphor for this longing for Euro/American/white culture, even though Hopper's work, like Grip himself, is haunted by alienation.
No where in the book is the question raised: why are Africans poor? Why are white people rich? And why is the CIA--and US AfriCom, and France, and Sweden-- still in Africa? One of the books on my reading list is "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa" by Walter Rodney. The author of "After the Monsoon" chooses to ignore this fundamental question, and instead reinforces readers racist feats of dark skinned Muslims. Any minute the drug-dazed, drunk pirates could rape the little white Swedish girl.
Just like "The Wire," there is no organized Black community. Djibouti's history, its struggle for independence from French colonialism, is completely left out. There are no Marxist geniuses like Franz Fanon, author of "The Wretched of the Earth." The reader can only feel safe in the presence of good cops like Grip, or the CIA, or Special Forces. Yes, the only thing keeping anyone safe in Africa is the European/US military. Does this sound like political propaganda to you? It does to me.
The protagonist, Grip, is only there for the duration of the novel. It's his year of living dangerously in what used to be called "The Third World." Now it's "the developing world." Everyone in the novel (who can) is desperate to get out of Djibouti and flee to European civilization. Grip's fantasy of owning a drawing by Hopper is a metaphor for this longing for Euro/American/white culture, even though Hopper's work, like Grip himself, is haunted by alienation.
No where in the book is the question raised: why are Africans poor? Why are white people rich? And why is the CIA--and US AfriCom, and France, and Sweden-- still in Africa? One of the books on my reading list is "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa" by Walter Rodney. The author of "After the Monsoon" chooses to ignore this fundamental question, and instead reinforces readers racist feats of dark skinned Muslims. Any minute the drug-dazed, drunk pirates could rape the little white Swedish girl.
Just like "The Wire," there is no organized Black community. Djibouti's history, its struggle for independence from French colonialism, is completely left out. There are no Marxist geniuses like Franz Fanon, author of "The Wretched of the Earth." The reader can only feel safe in the presence of good cops like Grip, or the CIA, or Special Forces. Yes, the only thing keeping anyone safe in Africa is the European/US military. Does this sound like political propaganda to you? It does to me.
Read
September 30, 2021Novel - translated from Swedish - about 3 events in Djibouti and the surrounding lawless sea and desert.
Swedish family on a round the world sailing trip but were kidnapped by Somali pirates.
Swedish army officer who (foolishly) brings his men and some Somali workers to the shooting range in the outskirts of Djibouti for gunnery practice but he gets shot through the head.
Swedish SWAT team rush a home in Stockholm in an anti-terrorist raid that comes up empty except that 3 Somalis were detained and released.
Swedish investigator who is sent to Djibouti to investigate the shooting. Instead of an "accidental discharge of a firearm" , he uncovers the web of greed and weed - khat (plant that contains alkaloids and stimulants) induced "drunkenness" that surrounds the killings, money laundering and drone strikes.
A slow but engaging pace - the novel draws the reader in.
I wondered if there would be any Somali heroes as they seem to be portrayed as pirates, corrupt police , refugees and boys who look after parked cars for a tip. That would would be unfair.
I guess the hero did come at the end - one with Swiftclean's white logo on her shirt in Stockholm . She like many unnamed mothers of the world are the silent heroes.
Swedish family on a round the world sailing trip but were kidnapped by Somali pirates.
Swedish army officer who (foolishly) brings his men and some Somali workers to the shooting range in the outskirts of Djibouti for gunnery practice but he gets shot through the head.
Swedish SWAT team rush a home in Stockholm in an anti-terrorist raid that comes up empty except that 3 Somalis were detained and released.
Swedish investigator who is sent to Djibouti to investigate the shooting. Instead of an "accidental discharge of a firearm" , he uncovers the web of greed and weed - khat (plant that contains alkaloids and stimulants) induced "drunkenness" that surrounds the killings, money laundering and drone strikes.
A slow but engaging pace - the novel draws the reader in.
I wondered if there would be any Somali heroes as they seem to be portrayed as pirates, corrupt police , refugees and boys who look after parked cars for a tip. That would would be unfair.
I guess the hero did come at the end - one with Swiftclean's white logo on her shirt in Stockholm . She like many unnamed mothers of the world are the silent heroes.
May 5, 2020
A fun, politically correct (yes, that's a compliment) action/police novel set mostly in East Africa. Lots of interesting locations and characters and a non-hetero protagonist, which is nice for this gay reader. The English translation is a bit rough at times, especially in the beginning, which is strange as the author cross-trained with US Marines. He's a former helicopter pilot Swedish Air Force lieutenant colonel and has clearly spent a fair amount of time in the region and knows his stuff. I've purchased another in the series and look forward to reading it.
August 25, 2018
Djibouti is the main setting for this tale of pirates, soldiers, and police officers. It's a fascinatingly convoluted maze of various plot lines and eccentric characters that intersect, disengage, and finally resolve into an exciting and satisfying whole. I have not read The Swede, although I have enjoyed others in the Nordic noir / suspense novel genre, so I'll check my local library for a copy that first story of Ernst Grip.
September 20, 2018
Got better as it went along. Although I figured out a couple of the major mystery’s answers long before they were revealed, it didn’t annoy me because there was so much else going on that was suspenseful and interesting. There were a couple details that seemed implausible to me, and I was deeply disturbed about what we never know happened offscreen to the kidnapped daughter, but overall it was a suspenseful read so I had to keep reading to find out what would happen.
November 1, 2023
A fast-paced mystery set in Africa, where a Swedish detective is sent to unravel the circumstances surrounding the death of an army officer. At the same time, a wealthy Swedish family sailing around the world has been taken prisoner by Somali pirates. A ransom is demanded, but no one in Sweden seems willing to pay. How these two crimes intersect and how the detective will solve the problems, will keep the reader guessing until the conclusion.
July 30, 2018
Entertaining and engrossing - a very wealthy Swedish family, mother, father, two kids, set off on an adventure, a multi-year sailing trip is planned. Ignoring advice, they sail into dangerous waters, off the coast of Somalia, where they are kidnapped. Meanwhile, a Swedish security officer is sent to Mogodishu to learn more about the killing of a Swedish army officer. Interesting and gripping.
February 9, 2019
This is a phenomenal thriller, set in the horn of Africa, pitting a smart, Swedish security agent against Somali pirates. The setting is a little known one, from a westerner's point of view, and as such, hugely interesting.
July 26, 2020
Eh, not quite what the last one was, which was really more of a standalone. This book does well isolating the main character, so it can continue the story, but that is ultimately it's downfall. Entertaining, but nowhere near the level of the last book.
May 8, 2018
This thriller is unusual and exciting because it takes a Swedish perspective on terrorism, torture, piracy and the C.I.A. It is a gripping yet nuanced story of compromise, defeat and partial success.
June 26, 2018
6/26/18 Full review tk.
August 14, 2018
Actually 4.5. I really liked this one but not quite a 5 star
October 20, 2018
Finally, a thrilling thriller. Th
October 26, 2018
I couldn't keep listening to the reader dragging out the sentences. It might be a good book to read, or maybe if the reader was different.
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